


Progress

by thethursdayghost



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/F, actual character development, different ending because the real one is stupid, slow burn wlw, this is a stupid movie but here I am
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-11-02 00:20:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20557874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thethursdayghost/pseuds/thethursdayghost
Summary: A different ending than the film. Jupiter would be happy to continue cleaning houses and eating dinner with her family, until Captain Tsing and Caine approach her about some privateer problems in Earth's district.





	1. Jupiter

Sweat slid down Jupiter's temple. She'd already considered lobbing off all her hair thrice today, but she was really gonna do it, if it wouldn't stay in a stupid ponytail.

"Again," she commanded, throwing away her water bottle.

"Are you sure?" Caine asked, folding his arms as he seized her up. "We've been going at it for awhile."

Jupiter scowled at him. They _had_ been going at it for awhile, but while she only felt her legs in flashes, Cain was barley breaking a sweat. 

"You said you would teach me to fight. Are you going to teach me or aren't you?" she growled.

Caine's expression was unreadable as he shrugged and stepped back onto the mats. Jupiter shook out her fists and raised them to a ready position.

She waited a beat before jumping forward. She feinted left, but he still dodged and smacked an elbow between her shoulder blades.

_"Alright, what's this about." Jupiter tapped her heel against the floor. In her head, she counted down the minutes until her mother got home and realized she wasn't there._

_Across the table, Caine fidgeted, drumming his thumbs on the table. His expression was unreadable, but Jupiter didn't try to get his attention, when he was so clearly focused on avoiding her. She'd deal with him later._

"Again."

This time she waited for him to come at her. Pain burst in her jaw when she couldn't dodge his punch, but she ignored it in favor of hip-checking him hard enough to bruise something. He caught himself before he could fall, somehow twisting his legs so he caught her ankles and she fell on her butt.

_Captain Tsing was shuffling through holo files at the head of the table. Jupiter couldn't read the script, much less backwards, but the words, whatever they said, had an entrancing quality so she pinned her gaze to that instead of Caine. Behind the captain, the Chicago skyline was outlined by a furiously red sunset. Jupiter should spend more time on the roof before the sunset, if this was the view from their house._

_"Sorry to bother you." Tsing said, flicking away files. They shimmered and dissipated. "But I wanted to inform you that me and my crew- Mr. Wise included, at his request -will be dealing with some... skirmishes on your planet. It seemed rude to sneak around behind your back."_

"Again."

This time, she did manage to dart under his punch and shove her shoulder into his tender ribs. He said nothing, but victory blossomed in Jupiter's chest- until his round house kick caught her in the ear.

_"I- thank you for telling me." Jupiter leaned back in her chair. She resisted the urge to put her hands over Caine's just to stop him from tapping at the table like that. "What... kind of skirmishes?"_

_"Nothing concerning," the captain assured her. "Now that Earth is in your possession, keepers and bounty hunters that are here, are trespassing. You, of course, cannot deal with this, but we can."_

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Caine's face swam into view above her. "Too hard that time. Are you alright?"

_"Thank you, I- I'll come with you." She nodded before the captain could object. "Yes. At least for a little while. I'll have to come up with an excuse for my family, but- as long as I'm not gone_ forever_, it'll be fine. I-I'll help you, see more of Earth and help you. I can't ask you to that for me without pitching in." Caine was watching her when she pointed to him. He didn't visibly shrink, but she could tell he was tense. "You can teach me to fight- so I'll actually be useful."_

_Caine gave a single, terse nod._

_Captain Tsing opened and closed her mouth. "It would be an honor to work beside you, Your Majes- Ms. Jones."_

_Jupiter grinned. "When do we leave?"_

_"As soon as allowed. But there is one more thing to deal with."_


	2. Jupiter

"I'll get you some water." Caine's face disappeared from view. Jupiter blinked the spots away from her vision. She silently counted her fingers and toes before pushing herself to her feet.

"I'm fine," she insisted, but accepted the fresh water bottle he offered.

"Let's stop for today." Caine said. He waited for her to object, but Jupiter was busy gulping down water. He nodded and started packing up the training mats, shoving them into a storage unit in the wall.

Jupiter took a seat on the floor next to the wall. She pulled her hair away from her neck and tied it up for the twentieth time. She didn't realize Caine was done until he hesitated by the door, preparing to leave. Something tightened in her chest.

"Jupiter..." he started, but searched for a way to finish.

"Caine," she said before he could go any further. "I- the last week has been... A lot. As you know. Um. I'm... sorry for kissing you-" He flushed. "-but I think, maybe we... shouldn't do anything about it? I wasn't thinking clearly and definitely high on adrenaline and I had a lot going on... I'm sorry for misleading you. Can we still- work together?"

She wished he could read the expression on his face, but he only gave a stiff nod and raised a fist to his heart in salute. "Of course, Your Majesty."

"I don't mind if you-" she started, but they both jumped when the door slid open.

Lieutenant Karn's gaze darted between them. "Captain wishes you to know we will be landing soon."

"Great, thank you." Jupiter said immediately and winced at the formal dismissal in her tone. These were the people she trusted and knew. They were helping her. They deserved more than one-sentence interactions. "Um- can you take me to Balem's holding cell? I don't really know my way around." She punctured the request with a nervous chuckle and the girl visibly relaxed.

"Of course, this way."

Caine silently followed them down the gilded halls. Jupiter had no lack of faith in the captain's ship, but the thought of being in space was still a new thing to get used to.

"Right in here." Lieutenant Karn tapped a knuckle at the command pad and the doors slid open.

"Thank you, again," Jupiter said. She didn't know what to do with her hands, so she crossed them over chest, but that seemed intimidating so she slipped them into her pockets. She'd forgotten how out of place she probably looked in a t-shirt and jeans on a space ship. "Let the captain know who were with. We'll be at the bridge for landing."

"Right. Cool." The lieutenant nodded and walked backward before turning on her heel.

Jupiter sighed and turned into the cell.

Cell was a loose term. Really it was only another bunk room for crew members. Only one bunk was occupied. Balem was quite literally bed-ridden, without his super-juice-elixir-healing-bath-water and the captain had instructed all crew members to deny him anything more than Earth's current medicinal technology.

"Balem," Jupiter said in greeting. She took a seat to the lower bunk across from him. Caine let the door close behind him and cross his arms menacingly.

Balem didn't look over. The rough brown blankets had been pulled up to his chest and neatly turned down. His hands were neatly folded over chest. He seemed to be inspecting the slats of the upper bunk, but his gaze could be anywhere.

"How's the leg?" Jupiter tried. "And... the ribs and lungs and esophagus, I guess."

"Your technology," Balem rasped. "Is too primitive to heal me." His voice was flat, monotone. "I may never walk again."

Jupiter didn't feel too bad for him; really, she just needed to make sure he wasn't going to go sadistic-murderer on them, since they didn't have the capacity to watch him all the time. Captain Tsing had said she didn't trust the Legionnaires to not dunk him in magic juice and send him on his merry way. From their fight in Jupiter's Refinery, Jupiter knew that Balem wasn't... ready to be in control of anything, much less hundreds of planets and life forms. Heck, she didn't know if he was ready to talk to too many people at once. Maybe he never would be. At least, this way everyone thought he was dead. Jupiter didn't know where that put them- with a former universe-dominant Entitled wasn't a great place to be. Maybe they should have let him die in the explosions.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Jupiter didn't try to make her tone personal.

Balem flashed his teeth in either a grin or a grimace at the ceiling. "I'm sure."

"I'm just here to make sure you don't... do anything that any of us regrets." She waited for a response, but he could have been a statue. "I may not be nice, but I guess I can help you with... physical therapy or something, I don't know. Just know- if you even talk about putting a finger on any of my family- or anyone on board this ship- I will make you regret it."

Jupiter waited another beat before pulling herself to her feet on the overhead slats. Caine stepped to the side and kept his eyes on Balem as the door slid open, waiting for her step out before following suit.

"Great," she said, mostly to herself. She doubted Caine would act as anything but silent body guard for awhile. "That was great."


	3. Caine

Caine's body seemed to be in perfect, functioning order, but he was sure his heart was melting through his ribs. 

_Work together._ She wanted to _work together_, when just being around her was tearing him apart. The smell of her shampoo and sweat and hair- just _her_ was intoxicating. His thoughts kept wrapping around the memory of holding her close- her lips pressing desperately against his, even as fire and sound crashed around them. How she felt underneath his hands, how she pulled him closer.

Could it have really just been adrenaline?

_I've never felt this before_, was what he would have said. If she hadn't interrupted him. _What I feel for you- it scares me, but I know I want to be near you. That would make me happy, if you can let me be near you._

He walked a step behind her so he wouldn't have to keep his expression neutral. The silence was suffocating. He was just glad Jupiter didn't try to break it. He had absolutely no idea what she was thinking. Perhaps that was a good thing, he tried to tell himself. Perhaps she was thinking about what a relief it would be to get away from him. Perhaps knowing what was going on in her brain would make this worse. If that was possible.

It was a relief to step into the bridge, where sound filled the space and cornfields and sunlight filled the windows. Caine left Jupiter's side to stand at the head of the table, in front of the windshield, but he was keenly aware of her conversation with Captain Tsing. For once, he wished he could dial back his enhanced senses.

"Preparing descent!" someone called.

Caine was sure he should know their name but he didn't have it in him to summon the focus. He let his gaze wander the bronzed wheat fields and his fingers tap at his sides. The sun had not yet set here and it made everything shine like gold.

"Stabilizers enabled."

"Thank you, stabilizers!"

"Thruster capacity at 30 percent."

"Ready to lower, Mr. Ness!"

The business of the bridge calmed his pounding blood, if fractionally. He leaned his head against the glass. He could make out the small, furry creatures scampering away from the ship, through the wheat. His eyes slipped closed, a moment of vulnerability. The world narrowed to the glass on his brow and his breath rattling through his chest until he heard the landing pads hitting the grassy field and Jupiter's voice, cutting through the hubbub.

"Caine! We're moving out."

Her voice sent shivers down his spine, but he forced himself to move slowly through the bridge, to the hatch and down to the bay doors. Captain Tsing held the hatch open and saluted him as he dropped through. Jupiter was tapping her foot, watching the bay door open. A widening band of sky shone into the bay. The sun striped across her face like a mask.

The smell of dirt, grass and manure greeted them. Caine stalked ahead of Jupiter without thinking to ask who or what they were looking for. Stupid, going into something unprepared, but the words caught in his throat when he thought to ask anyway.

His boots crushed into dry soil. The wheat around them had been flattened by the bay door, but beyond that, they were surrounded by tall grasses. If there was someone waiting for them, this would be the perfect time to ambush them. 

Jupiter followed him down to the dirt, but he darted around while she spoke into the comms at her ear. He supposed Tsing was on the other end, but he only caught snatches of the conversation as he scouted around the base of the ship. He couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary, but with all the damn wind-rustling, that wasn't surprising, just frustrating.

"We've got first pick of where to scout," Jupiter relayed to him. "The captain is sending out two more groups but they're getting gear."

"Are you sure you want to be scouting?" Caine stopped in front of her. She had to tilt her head to look up at him. The closeness of her suffocated him so he took a step back into the grasses. "You were... working hard today."

"I'm fine," Jupiter said, like there was no other answer and turned to the house on the other side of the field. There was only one light on. "Let's start there."


End file.
